Power take-off



J. R. BETTS POWER TAKE-OFF Nov. 30, 193 7.

Filed May 17, 1937 n .We 3 R n h o d Patented Nov. 30, 931 I 2,100,310

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE POWER TAKE-OFF John B. Bctts, Kearney, Nebr. Application May 1'1, 1937, Serial No. 142,969. 4 Claims. (Cl. 290-55) My invention relates to power take-oils, its to prevent the loss of lubricant through splashprimary object being the provision of a power ing and to prevent the entrance of water and grit take-off which may be applied to the windmills into the lubricant and into the gearing. The now in use and operated without disturbing or in helmet 20 seats against a peripheral flange of the 5 any way interfering with the normal operation of lubricant reservoir and is secured in 1 y 5 the windmill. means of a bolt and nut connection 2|, the bolt Another of my objects is the provision of a projecting upw dl from a fi P Of the power take-oft which may be applied, t a, windwindmill such as the yoke I I and passing through mill without the necessity of drilling holes or an ap ture i t e op of e h the u 10 otherwise fitting the power take-oil to the windbeing drawn down aga s the pp Surface of 10 mill while on the job. the wall of t e m t- Another of my objects is the provision of Thus far the construction is common to nearly p wer take-off which may be adapted with the all windmills and is varied in only minor details min mum of effort to any commercial windmill such as the dimensions. In most cases the gears at present in use I and pitmans are duplicated in symmetrical rela- 15 A very important object of the invention is the tion on t tWO sides 0f the P p l5 a s ow provision of an attachment including a generator in Figure My p m has be t dev se ea which may be applied .to a i d ill g b us d for taking the power oil any of the present windfor generating electrical current without dismills by utilizing t0 the rea t Po si l xt n turbihg the pumping operation r th in ill the structures already present in the windmill. 20 and so arranged that either the pump alone or the T I mp i hed m r ly y the use f generator alone or the pump and generator tocessories o he w dm lhi be n y necessary gether may be operated, that the wlndmill'have a helmet and a driven Having in view these objects and others which gear similar to the gear l2.

will be pointed out in the following description, I The e m t which I employ must be similar 25 will now refer to the drawing, in whi h to those of the windmill to which my-power take- Figure l is a view partly in Vertical section and of! 15 to b pp These helmets y be best partly in elevation of a windmill otor ith my obtained from the windmill manufacturers. The take-oft connected thereto, a portion of the oil helmet should be eliel'tlll'ed and provided w t reservoir being broken away to disclose the windbee-rings 22 for a Shaft e shaft 23 08-1- mill gearing. ries a gear 24 meshing with the gear l2 of the Figure 2 is a similar view showing the parts a windmill. It is necessary that the shaft 23 with seen from a position at one quadrant from the its gear 4 Conform to the-Position 01 the Parts o position in which Figure 1 is viewed. e ear in e w nd t which my powe Figure 3 is a view in perspective showing the take-0i is to be pp T e S a t 3 carries at exterior portions of the helmet with my power e o its extremities a pulley wheel 5- At 6 s take-oil applied thereto. a generator having a shaft 21 which is parallel Almost without exception all windmills at to e a t 3. T e shaft 21 has a pulley Wheel present in use on farms have certain features in Which is belted t0 the p y Wheel The common. Among these are the wind wheel shaft crater s firmly secured to the helmet y means w H) having a gear II in mesh withaspeed reducing t p 8 whi h may b we d o otherwise gear I! on the shaft l3, Included als i a itsecured. to the helmet; In order to maintain L man It eccentrlcally secured to the gear H, the operative tension on the belt 29 I provide an idler upper extremity of the pitman being pivotally resting Yieldably against the pp rim o t e connected with the pumprod l5 which extends belt 29 b t ny of the e ow b t n oni 45 downwardly through the mast ii. The pump rod devices may be employed for maintaining the 15 is maintained during movement in vertical proper tension in the belt 28. position by means of a guide which in the form The greatadvantage of the present structure shown in my drawing consists of a vertical yoke is h n changes Whatever need be made in the l! for guiding the movements of the roller l8 windmill itself and that the device may be easily which is journalled on the pivotal connection applied to the windmill or removed therefrom. between the pitman i4 and the pump rod l5. Since the generator is driven directly from the The lubrication system is usually of the splash windmill motor and not from the wind wheel, type, the reservoir is serving for the storage of no side movement oi the gears is encountered such t lubricant A helment has two fu c ons; as would cause fluctuation in the driving of the is ready for immediate use. If it is approved and the sale is made, the old helmet may be fitted with a generator as shown so that it will be available for use on a similar windmill. If the sale is not made the device may be removed and the old helmet replaced without in any way interfering with the normal operation of the windmill.

My power take-off with the generator is designed to in large measure solve the problems of rural electrification. Nearly all farms are now equipped with windmills which at present are being used exclusively for pumping water. Such windmills as a rule are used only during a portion of the time while the wind is blowing so that the equipment stands idle at other times. Even when the windmill is pumping water the power available is often greatly in excess of that required in normal pumping operations. The devices are assembled at central points, the helmets being the standard helmets for the windmills of various kinds. The bearings 22 are applied in the proper positions to the opposite walls of the helmet and the shaft 23 with the gear or gears 2 is journalled in these bearings. The generator 26 is then secured by means of straps 28 to the outer surface of the helmet. All of this requires the minimum of labor when the work is done in a shop equipped with the necessary but minimum number of tools. On leaving the shop the helmet with its attachments is ready for almost instant installation on the windmill since it necessitates only the removal of the windmill helmet and its replacement by my helmet with the attachments. This is an exceedingly simple operation since it necessitates only the removal of the nut 2| from the old helmet and the replacement of the nut after my helmet has been installed. While the entire labor cost has been reduced to a minimum the labor cost on the job is brought down to a very insignificant figure.

My power take-off for the generation of electrical current should be of particular appeal to tenant farmers. On tenant farms the landlord is seldom willing to stand the cost of the connection with the power line and of the cost of wiring the buildings for a current of high voltage. On the other hand, the tenant is unable to meet this cost especially in the face of the fact that the installation then belongs to the landlord. As before stated, the cost of my installation is relatively low because of the ease and low labor cost of making the installation on a particular windmill. If the tenant then finds that he must move at the end of the year to a' new location, he simply removes and takes with himthe helmet having the generator secured thereto. In case he finds a windmill of different make on the farm to which he moves, the shop may be stocked with the helmets for windmills of different makes so that the change may be made at very low cost in the shop.

The equipment may include a storage battery for the lighter operations such as that required by the sewing machine or cream separator or for use in the lighting system while the generator is not being operated. The generator may also a 2,100,310 generator. The helmet with my attachments be employed for charging automobile batteries or radio batteries.

Having thus described my invention in such full, clear, and exact terms that its construction and operation will be readily understood by others skilled in the art to which it pertains, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An attachment for a windmill having gearing driven by a wind wheel and means for seating a helmet for covering the windmill gearing, said attachment including a helmet, aligned bearings in a pair of opposite side walls of said helmet, a shaft journalled in said bearings, a gear secured to said shaft to rotate therewith, said gear being so positioned as to be in mesh with a gear of the windmill motor when said helmet is seated, a power take-off secured to an outer side of said helmet, said power take-01f having a shaft in parallel relation with said first named shaft, and means for driving said power take-off shaft from said first-named shaft. v

2. A windmill including a lubricant reservoir, a helmet above said reservoir, a wind wheel motor enclosed by said lubricant reservoir and said helmet, a shaft for driving said motor, a wind wheel outside said reservoir for driving said shaft, said mot r including a gear on said shaft, a second shaf journalled in opposite walls of said helmet, a gear on said second shaft and meshing with said first-named shaft, said second shaft projecting outside said helmet on one side thereof, a pulley wheel at the outer'extremity of said shaft, a generator secured to said helmet on the outer side thereof, a pulley wheel on the shaft of said generator, 'and a belt connecting said two pulley wheels.

3. An attachment for a windmill having a lubricant reservoir and flanges at the upper edge thereof for seating. a helmet and having also a 7 wind wheel and a shaft driven by the wind wheel and journalled in the side walls of the reservoir, the windmill motor including a gear on the shaft of the wind wheel and a speed reduction gear driven by the gear on the wind wheel shaft, said attachment including a helmet adapted to seat on the edge portion of the lubricant reservoir of the windmill and adapted to be secured thereto, a generator secured to the outer side of a wall of said helmet, said generator having a shaft, a

second shaft journalled in opposite walls of said helmet for covering the windmill gearing, said attachment including a shaft having a gear adapted to mesh with a gear of the windmill gearing, a generator adapted to be secured to the windmill helmet on the outer side thereof, said generator including a shaft in parallel relation with the first said shaft of said attachment, and a connection between said two shafts.

whereby the first said shaft will drive said generator. 1

JOHN R. BETTS. 

